Learning As You Go
by Write Love Letters
Summary: Rose Weasley has somehow talked her cousin into writing a muggle blog for a year. Lily Potter doesn't know why she ever agreed to this in the first place. / twenty-something in london trying to figure out what she's doing …and looking for a flat to let. two bed, one bath in london, please. oh, and sometimes i do magic. welcome to my (life) blog.


twentysomething in london trying to figure out what she's doing with herself.  
…and looking for a flat to let. two bed, one bath in london, please.  
oh, and sometimes i do magic. welcome to my (life) blog.

- LP

{SEPTEMBER}

_2 september_

_i've always loved watershed moments. when i was younger i considered the value of my life in those moments. like the first time i went with mom to her work - without my older brothers. or the exact day that i received my letter for hogwarts. or when i finally understood what my older cousins would always giggle about during sunday tea, trading whispers in our grandparents' back garden about which classmate was a right prince to them or a friend. it makes sense, i guess to view now as another one of those special times in life when everything stops for just one second before shifting wildly again. _

_my mum used to keep books for my brothers and i. they were these hulking leather scrapbooks filled with pictures and faded birthday cards and worn school disciplinary letters and her own notes and remarks. she gave james his after he got married a couple years ago. al's is probably still sitting on the shelf in our parents' office right next to mine. she was - is still - a journalist and i always remember her telling us how important documentation was. she would always give my dad a funny look afterwards, which tells me there's more to it but, i digress. _

_how're the two related you ask? _

_because this watershed moment might be the biggest one of my life and the person i want to share it with won't be by my side for another year. we both were spoiled, spending a full year in each other's company when we used to only have school hols. nate's staying in the states, though, his last year for his degree before moving out to london and finding work here. i, on the other hand, am slowly discovering this means i have to relearn how to be on my own and live in england, where cars are most certainly on the left and we do not have any president of any kind and everyone. talks. normally. _

_this was all my cousin rose's idea, just to let you know. this brill idea that since nate and i can't live the next year together, i should document it. document every last boring thing that happens to me, lily. and he can follow it almost as if he was there. kind of like those journals my mum still updates from time to time. _

_so here it is, the first entry. let's hope i still have a job at the ministry and some luck flat hunting now that i'm back. and that my brother hasn't completely destroyed the furniture i put into storage - it doesn't matter which one, i'll wring both their necks really. and that this isn't complete and utter shite. _

.&.

"I think this is an inspired idea," said Rose, bright blue eyes skimming over her cousin's writing. The laptop sent a bluish glow over the curly brunette's freckled face.

"You would," countered Lily, scooping ice cream out of a container and straight into her mouth. "Mf waf your ifeah."

Rose made a face at the pretty redhead, "Ugh, you're just as bad as Al when he's eating. Honestly, I'm sure Auntie Gin taught you gits some sorts of manners." Lily shrugged a shoulder inelegantly and stuffed more ice cream into her mouth. "Also, don't you want to start looking around now for a new flat? Although I'm not sure there's anything really available in Diagon Alley at the mo' or, well, you could always ask Uncle George about the place above the shop."

"Nah," Lily replied around a huge glob of ice cream. Rose gave up looking disgusted at her cousin's eating and took a spoon from the dish rack, sharing the tub with Lily. "I wanted to live in a muggle neighborhood anyways, maybe closer to the Ministry than to Diagon Alley, since that's where I'm stationed and especially if Nate gets that job in the International Magical Cooperation Department later on. Plus, I like having a telly and wonky cell reception. It's all the rage in the States."

"Oh please, don't tell me you have an extended love affair with their capital."

"It's a beautiful city, the magical district isn't that large in DC - we went to Boston for a long weekend and that's where the cool stuff is, but since America's magical government is centralized in the capital it's got its fair share. Nate's college is impressive as well," Lily contemplated her cousin for a brief moment. "You know, I'm surprised you aren't enamored with the States more, considering they go to school for like four more years than we do."

The highest and most dreaded compliment Rose received was usually some permutation of "You're so much like your mother, that Hermione Granger. You're both just so smart and keen to learn." Rose had always done well in school, top marks and a full schedule from the first time she stepped into the Great Hall until she left with her head held high and eight "Outstanding" marks on her N.E.W.T. levels. Closest with Lily amongst the cousins, Rose tended to play the sensible older sister to Lily's more whimsical fantasies. The one time Head Girl and Gryffindor keeper now worked for magical charities providing legal counsel and acting as an intermediary between those organizations and the Ministry of Magic.

"Oi," Rose grumbled, "I was better than Louis, bloody Ravenclaw always stealing the good table in the library."

Lily rolled her eyes, "You're proving my point right now, Rose. Anyways, since you have nothing in this empty box you call a kitchen, should I call for takeaway? Chinese, Indian, Pizza?"

Rose backed out of the room toward the bathroom down the short hallway in her flat, "Anything works, surprise me yeah? And how about you just move in here 'til you find a place?" Her voice becomes muffled as a door quietly shuts. "I mean at least it doesn't constantly smell like ratty gym socks and stale butterbeer at my place."

"Al's place isn't that bad," sighed Lily as she halfheartedly scratched Rose's grey cat behind the ear, "And I already told you, he needs someone to look after his flat as he plays in the World Cup the next few months. He phoned me earlier complaining about the plumbing in Chile, but he's just a wuss if you ask me."

Al - no one dared call him Albus except their parents and usually that included the middle name as well - was a seeker for the Montrose Magpies and the golden boy of Quidditch. Recruiters had been besides themselves during his last two years of school as they attempted to sign him with their professional team. Al had signed with Montrose days before the start of his final year at Hogwarts on the condition that he would train with the reserve team on weekends, but would be allowed to finish his studies and sit for his N.E.W.T. exams. Lily was less sure Al had requested that agreement, instead believing their parents had stepped in at the last minute to amend bits and pieces of Al's very first contract. Her brother needn't had worried however, his talent for Quidditch continued from the house team into the professional league and landed him a spot on the team representing England in the World Cup. What it meant for Lily, however, was that she had a place to stay that wasn't her childhood home in the English countryside while she went flat hunting.

"Plus, your place smells like a litter box and that cigarette smoke from the guy above you. Least of all, I would rather not sleep on your manky couch."

"That couch is a priceless artefact," Rose scoffed, heading back into the main room, her curls in wild disarray as her head popped out of a worn Hogwarts sweatshirt. "It's been a good mate for 3AM drunken pass outs."

Lily placed a hand on Rose's arm, "Really, I'm good. I need to learn how to be on my own again anyways, remember? Besides you don't want to deal with my crazy schedule. I know how much you hate mornings."

Rose nodded sagely, "It was really good of your dad to hold your position until you got back."

"Well, I never really quit the department, he had me consulting on older cases that had gone cold and evaluating various magical enforcement methods when I was over there whilst forming contacts with various personnel just in case," Lily rattled off. "Plus, I'd like to see dad train a new person willing to act as liaison between muggle and wizarding law enforcements. Not to mention" - She winked - "I'm his favorite daughter and he can't deny me anything."

Rose threw her head back in mirth, "Harry Potter deny his only daughter, his princess, anything? No, I think that's damn near impossible. But, I'm hungry. Takeaway or that new Thai place just down the street. Hugo's new girlfriend apparently swears by it."

"Hugo has a new girlfriend? Shite, what's that make it? Four in the last eighteen months?"

"Five, actually, if you count a turn with that new barmaid Hannah's employed for the weekend rush." Rose said this with a touch of disbelief coloring her judgement of her younger brother. Always more on the quiet side during his school years, when he finished Hogwarts and Hugo insisted on working in the magical publishing industry. What surprised all the cousins - James and Fred especially - was that within Hugo's first month working for Grandiose Wizarding Publishing House he had gone out with three separate girls and had a half dozen more sighing in the hope he'd turn to them next. Lily, closest in age to Hugo, had always found it amusing watching him navigate his newfound attention when he would Floo over in a fit of desperation because 'birds are just too damn confusing.' "James says he's impressed, but of course he's probably just missing those few days when he wasn't tied down with a kid on the way."

"Hah, I think married life suits him," commented Lily as she perused Rose's rather large collection of takeaway menus stored in the kitchen drawer. "Al says he's never seen James so annoying, which is, of course, how one says 'I love you' in this family I suppose." The eldest of the Potter children, James was never far from doling out little pranks on his siblings and cousins when they were all younger. Finally marrying his longtime girlfriend a couple years ago, James - while never actually losing the joviality that he'd had in childhood - had settled down: working long hours at St. Mungo's in their spell damage ward, fixing up a cottage in Notting Hill close to Maggie's (his wife) muggle mother, and only sometimes conning Al into giving up a couple tickets to a weekend Magpies match. Lily liked to complain about her elder brother's unnecessary hovering, but even she could acknowledge loving his carefree nature at crime scenes when both St. Mungo's and the Auror department were called out in the middle of the night. After a moment, Lily pointed to beige menu with green lettering. "Let's try this one. I haven't had a good honey walnut shrimp in ages."

"Alright," Rose picked up the leaflet and gestured vaguely toward her cabinets. "There should be a bottle of red somewhere, pop it open will you? We'll make this a proper girl's night."

.&.

While it was well known that Rose Weasley despised mornings on principle, Lily Potter had always disagreed with the knowledge of Monday mornings existing, something that always came back to bite her when she considered the 5AM alarm that ensured she made it to the Ministry exactly a half hour before the rest of the Auror department did. It was a tradition established when she had been a trainee fresh from Hogwarts, still a little unsure of being an adult - another of one of those watershed moments, if you will. The Head Auror had encouraged it, tempting his daughter with warm muffins and lots of tea in the early morning when Lily was still living at her childhood home before they Flooed to the Ministry together. It had been father-daughter time, before Al - who always tended to have a lie-in after grueling practices - came clomping down the stairs or her mother awoke to read that morning's post or James Flooed into the living room unannounced but missing the comforts of home while learning to live on his own. The morning moments carried over when Lily had moved out to share a flat with an old schoolmate who was dying to get out of her house but didn't quite make enough from her job at Flourish and Blotts to let one on her own.

It was certainly one of the things that Lily had missed while abroad and was happy to resume the action now that she was back, even if it meant facing down the much dreaded Monday.

Harry was already in his office at the end of the Auror wing, when Lily finally woke up enough to head in to work. Just as recognizable as he had been at seventeen years old, granted with a few more grey hairs on his head a couple of lines on his serious face that surely hadn't been there a couple decades ago, the man once called "the-boy-who-lived" was grudgingly going through the stack of paperwork perched on the edge of his desk, muttering under his breath.

"Morning daddy," Lily greeted, tucking back a strand of hair that escaped the sloppy chignon she pinned just moments early.

Harry stood, welcoming her back with a hug and a kiss to the top of her head and pointed to the carafe standing off to the side of the room. "Your mum made banana walnut last night, I think she's worried about you being on your own again," Harry gave Lily a rueful smile, obviously accustomed to his wife's quirks.

Lily placed her bag on the empty seat in front of her father's desk and rummaged around for a slim folder she placed in there last night. "These are the profiles on the nine or ten who could be of the most help to the department if we ever need it. They're sort of stationed in various places and departments in the magical and muggle American law system, all of them are based in the capital and they vary in experience but I thought they'd be most willing to reconnect."

Harry nodded and put the file in a drawer of his desk. "I'll look them over when I'm done with the Minister's new requests for the department. So how's Nate? School treating him well or is he itching to join the rest of us in the working world?"

"He's getting restless," acknowledged Lily. "I told him that he didn't need his master's degree, but he says it makes his mum and step-dad feel more secure in his job prospects or something. Even though career requirements are completely different in the magical world as compared to the muggle one, but - well - I think he wants to make them happy since he'll be moving here full time next year. Besides, since his step-dad teaches at the university, he gets the degrees for a fraction of the cost."

"And how did you like the States?"

"It was… good. Different, yet the same. It's just so large I guess. Nate made sure I visited a few different cities and each is so distinct from the next that you forget that you're in one country. I certainly missed the comforts of home, but over there magic is just so different. They have the same problems as we do, y'know the whispers of blood purity and such, but at the same time they've adapted it so that muggle technology works seamlessly in the magical world." Here, Lily pulled out the silver laptop she had brought to Rose's home a few nights ago. "It's ingenious and I'm sure granddad would have a field day over there, but somehow magical engineers have cast spells and reworked it's system so that magic doesn't cause interferences. Mobiles, too, have been given the same treatment. Merlin, it was so much easier to type out reports over there rather than cramp my hand from writing with a quill and parchment."

Lily's eyes grew wide with excitement and wonder as she described to her father the seemingly endless advancements that American wizards had undergone. Of all the Weasley cousins, Lily was the one to inherit the family patriarch's obsession with all things muggle. She was the only to follow Muggle Studies all the way through to N.E.W.T level, receiving an 'Outstanding' when all was said and done. Lily and her brothers, unlike most magical children, had attended muggle primary school before attending Hogwarts. The only others in the family to do the same for their kids were Rose and Hugo's parents, Ron and Hermione, since Harry and Hermione were the only ones to had spent their formative years in the muggle education system. Even more, Harry and Ginny (and Ron and Hermione) had always kept a home mixed with both magical and muggle appliances. All four admitted to enjoying the simplicity of muggle technology and things like toasters and television sets and even computers once the children had started school could always be found laying about. James was as mad about football as he was Quidditch, Al had what his siblings call an "unhealthy" obsession with a long-running television serial called 'Doctor Who', and Lily doggedly followed the latest updates to muggle technology.

"So are you going to move back?"

"No," her answer was quick and decisive. "Nate likes it here just as much I do. Plus, his dad lives here and he's closer to him than to his mother and he knows how close I am to my family. Not to mention, if we have kids we want them to attend Hogwarts rather than the Chicago Institute for Magical Academics. Nate says Hogwarts seems much cooler than his high school experience. I told him he was being ridiculous, but whatever."

"So is it going to go that far?" Harry asked, face half hidden by his mug of tea.

"Are you interrogating me, daddy?" Lily countered, brown eyes blown wide with innocence and every bit as dangerous as her mother's.

"I'm just being curious, that's legal right?"

"Well, there's no ring on my finger, if that satisfies your questions."

"Oh, of course, pixie. It won't stop your mother from asking even more questions though," replied her father, dropping one of his favorite childhood nicknames for Lily. Outside, the general early morning chatter of the office picked up as more and more Aurors arrived at work. Harry checked the clock hanging on the wall, "Don't forget you have a field assessment at eleven. As long as the right spell hits the right target Lils, we keep you from going out. Otherwise, it's desk duty for two weeks while you reacclimate."

"Understood, dad. I'll go join the other minions now. Won't remind everyone that you're old enough to have a daughter out of Auror training, not to mention a son who is married and expecting his first child," Lily waved cheekily as she exited the office, quickly winding her way through the cluttered cubicles to her desk. Godric, she had missed this.

.&.

_8 september _

_imagine the most chaotic thing you can. now multiply the crazy by one hundred. i bet you twenty galleons that it still doesn't come close to a tried and true weasley family dinner. grandmum has been itching for a good one for a while, according to rose, and this is apparently the golden opportunity since i'm finally back and (oh yippee) my birthday is in less than a week. _

_so brace yourselves, internet, because you're about to get a rundown on my family tree. it's a big one. probably like one of those hundred year pine trees that go on forever. _

_it starts with grandmum and granddad weasley who had seven - yeah that's right - seven kids. and they all (except for my uncle charlie cause he's married to dragons and my uncle fred, but that's a story for another time) got married and had kids. and now, scary enough, those kids are getting married and having kids. we haven't gotten to the next generation yet, i'm sort of scared to be quite truthful. _

_anyways, no one cares about the aunts and uncles. they don't have drama. but the cousins. that's where the fun is. because teddy (my dad's godson) and vic (the eldest weasley cousin) are probably still awkward around each other after their public and toxic break up three years ago. and hugo is apparently bringing girlfriend number-what-are-we-even-at-now. and james is probably a right wreck with a pregnant wife. and straight laced molly apparently caused an uprise by getting engaged to scorpius malfoy (oh uncle percy is going to have a field day with that one). and there's al who plays professionally and got caught by the prophet for snogging some italian tart. and not to mention dom who moved to france five years ago and hasn't said a word to anyone until four months ago when she blew back in. _

_ah family, can't pick 'em and can't (really) ditch 'em. _

.&.

"Mum, do you know what a blog is?"

Ginny Potter glanced up from the parchment she had been dutifully writing her article on for the upcoming match between Luxembourg and Brazil. "Pardon?"

"A blog," repeated Lily, her bright hair tied back into a simple plait and her jeans and shirt worn. "It's sort of like a journal but online."

Her mother ruefully shook her head, "Sorry sweetheart, as much as you and your brothers have tried to bring me up to speed there's certainly still many gaps. Why do you ask?"

"Rose had this grand idea that I start one and that I keep updating it for the entire year that Nate and I are apart. Kind of as a way to include him in my life even if he can't be here literally. But instead of keeping it in a book, it's written on the computer and posted online, so that anyone could potentially read it." Lily shifted her weight, remaining in the doorway. "I didn't think about it before but aren't I breaking twenty different statues of secrecy? Or am I totally barmy?"

Ginny set down her quill and put the piece of parchment aside. After a turn as a professional Quidditch player for the all-female Holyhead Harpies, Ginny became a reporter for the Daily Prophet's Sports section. While Lily certainly got her looks from her mother, Ginny would be the first to point out the similarities between her daughter and her husband. She was, in fact, the only member of the family not surprised when Lily announced she had applied for the Auror program at the end of her seventh year at Hogwarts. Summoning the tin of biscuits from the kitchen, she offered one to her daughter and pulled out a chocolate one for herself. "I don't think it's barmy. In fact, I think it's a rather lovely idea Lils. As for the statue of secrecy, I'm sure you know what's appropriate and what's not. Anyway, from what you tell me about that thing - imernet, winterweb?"

"Internet," provided Lily.

"Yes, it seems like rather foolish stuff gets posted on there. I don't think you mentioning that your brother plays Quidditch or you're an Auror will really raise much alarm."

Lily crossed the small space in three large steps, engulfing her mother in a hug. "Thanks mum, I needed to hear that I think."

Ginny hugged her back, "Of course Lily, that's what I'm always here for. Now, how about we head to grand mum's for that birthday party she's insisting on throwing for you. Honestly, it's as if she's not constantly cooking the world is going to go to hell."

A smile tugged at Lily's lips as she followed her mother toward their fireplace. Flooing was Lily's least preferred method of traveling. The spinning always made her feel sick more than Apparating ever has. Her brother, Al, was the complete opposite, only getting his Apparation license out of necessity for Quidditch. Most of the time, Lily enjoyed riding the Tube to around London. She would observe the weary travelers, the muggles with no knowledge of the magic right in front of their eyes, the mum with a napping toddler, the schoolmates sharing headphones and personal space. Lily loved the Tube and when she was in America, she made a point to travel by D.C.'s version of it: the Metro. Nate would tease her mercilessly for it, constantly praising the car his parents had bought him for his sixteenth birthday as the better muggle method of transportation.

After the fireplace grates stopped ferociously moving, Lily looked up from the worn wooden floors of the Burrow and into the many faces of the Weasley family. James reached her first, an easy smile on his face. He clapped an open palm on her shoulder, "Hey shortstuff, long time no see. How'd the Yanks treat you?"

Lily shook the grip for a hug instead, "Same as to be expected. They asked me to say a lot of weird words and then preceded to laugh about how funny it sounded. Honestly, I've never said aluminum twenty times in as many years give or take until I moved there."

"Eh, at least you got life experience out of the thing, right? Anyways, Mags is right pleased that you're back. She keeps saying I'm bloody useless."

"That's because you are James," said a blonde with hazel eyes sitting at the kitchen table nursing a cup of steaming tea. "Really Lily, I don't know how you've put up with this prat for almost twenty-three years. He's off his rocker. Thinks that just 'cause I'm carrying his spawn that it means I completely handicapped now." The expectant mother stood up to give her sister-in-law a hug, "Happy Birthday, by the way. We'll catch up later, go make rounds. I'm sure everyone wants to ask about America."

"We'll grab lunch this week Maggie," Lily said, as another cousin - Fred, with his dark skin and bright grin - whisked her away. The blonde waved cheerily, turning around to face her husband. Maggie, short for Margaret, had been a Ravenclaw in James' year at school. The two were randomly partnered in Potions for their fifth year, but it wasn't until halfway through their sixth that James had plucked up his Gryffindor courage to ask the slim blonde out to Hogsmeade. Louis had loudly proclaimed that he was the catalyst for their relationship, since he and Maggie had been prefects together in Ravenclaw and that James wouldn't have ever fallen so hard for the halfblood if he wasn't always bothering Louis during his and Maggie's patrols around the grounds.

Fred Weasley, meanwhile, was loud and chaotic and thrived at being the center of attention. Five years her senior, Fred treated Lily the same as his younger sister, Roxanne, providing advice on where to find the Hogwarts kitchens were and the best shortcuts in the castle when Lily's own brothers would rather withhold the information as a way to rile her up. A radio broadcaster with the flair for dramatics on the Wizarding Wireless Network, Fred was quick with a quip and knew the dirty laundry of all of Britain's top ministry officials.

"Honestly Lillers, warn a bloke the next time you pack it in and jet away to somewhere far beyond the horizon line," Fred complained as they walk toward a table groaning with food. "It's been absolutely dreary here without your sunny disposition. Roxy's been a right sprite without you to get pissed with on the weekends. Not to mention that James feels particularly protective of everyone - and I do mean everyone - without you here to play big brother. And, you missed all the juicy gossip! Dom came back and I had no one to make sarcastic comments to. Rose just doesn't cut it, she refuses to play along, says that I'm not funny, when we both know I'm fucking hilarious."

"Oh please Freddie, you just miss having an inside source at the Ministry since the stick shoved up Uncle Percy's arse refuses to let him divulge any secret worth a soundbite and Dad can't possibly comment on an ongoing investigation, nor can Aunt Hermione," remarked Lily with a smile.

"I've had to rely on Uncle Ron and Teddy. Honestly, how pathetic is that." Fred sounded pained at his admission.

"I'm sure your listeners didn't notice a single thing off."

Fred's retort was cut off by a loud squeal and Molly Weasley (the cousin, not grandmum) throwing herself at Lily for a hug while one hand remained firmly gripped on a tall blonde wizard's forearm. "Lily, Lily, Lily," the lively brunette chanted, her fringe falling into her eyes. "Oh it's so grand that you're back. You've heard the news right? You must've. I was gonna owl, but I wanted to tell you all about in person. And, Godric, it's just so exciting. Scorpius asked in the most romantic way possible and oh," Molly paused in her diatribe, swooning at the memory. "We'll have to grab a spot of lunch this week, us and Rose like old times yeah? Oh, but here look!" At that Molly thrust her left hand in Lily's face where a sparkling diamond - princess cut, in a gold setting, and several carats large - sat on her ring finger.

Lily gave Molly a genuine smile, "It's gorgeous Molls, Scorp obviously has great taste."

The wizard laughed from his place beside his fiancée. "I certainly had some help," he said bashfully. "Al is surprisingly knowledgeable about jewelry. Too bad the blighter's not here right now. I'd like to take the mickey out of him for that _Prophet_ piece last Thursday."

"You saw that too," guffawed Fred. "Oh man it was grand, Louis was on the show that day and we just went for hours about it. Who doesn't love messing with Britain's golden boy, the international Quidditch star. Especially since he's family."

Scorpius turned to Lily, "How've you been Lily? Al kept groaning about how much fun you were having on your year-long vacation before he jetted away to like Egypt. The git." When Scorpius was sorted into Gryffindor, he was eleven years old and terrified of the letter from home disowning him from the Malfoy family. It never came and Al, continuing a family tradition, invited his new friend to spend the Christmas holidays at the Potter house (and for every holiday after that).

"It was tons of fun and I'm missing Nate, of course. Everyone should go to America at least once. You should tell that mate of yours his flat's a mess. Urgh, there were beer bottles scattered around the place and I had to clean it all up." Lily wrinkled her nose in annoyance.

"He'll be back within the month," laughed Scorpius. "And if I recall, you volunteered to look after the place."

"Cheap housing, that's all it is."

Molly tugged on Scorpius's hand, anxious to continue showing off her latest jewelry acquirement. "We'll see you guys around," she chattered. "I must go say hi to mum." Scorpius waved farewell and trotted after her.

Turning to face his dousing Fred said, "Bless him, he doesn't know what shit he's gotten himself into."

"Oh be nice will you. At least they're happy. Which is more than we could say then Molly and her last boyfriend. Give it time, it'll feel less weird soon enough."

"You mean it'll feel less like your brother is marrying your cousin?"

"Precisely," said Lily. A motherly-looking woman with greying hair crossed the garden and Lily set down her empty butterbeer bottle, "I should go thank grandmum for putting together this party. I'll stop by the station on Wednesday Fred, alright?"

He nodded and spun to find Hugo, most likely with a joke at the tip of his tongue. "Just drop by whenever Lillers."

Lily loved the family get-togethers. While all the cousins admitted to feeling lost every once in a while in such a large family such as the Weasley-Potter brood, Lily felt that the comfort in always knowing someone would be there to offer advice or lend support or comfort more than made up for those fleeting moments. The Sunday tea went late into the evening and included a wonderful chocolate and buttercream cake for pudding, an impromptu family Quidditch match that eventually degraded into everyone messing around with throwing the quaffle at each other, and lots and lots of gossip trading - both of the family and society variety. Lily returned to her borrowed flat with a content smile and a few plates piled high with leftovers.

.&.

_17 september _

_do you ever have a feeling that you just hate your job? like flat out loathe it even though within the next hour you're going to be in love with it again. i always have that feeling when one of my superiors (either dad or uncle ron, really) knock on my door with a grim look on their face and their auror badge pinned to a shirt or hanging from a lanyard. because it means something's happened. it means that there really are people out there with twisted minds who are harming innocent people and when they ask for me. it means that it's happened to someone who never deserved the cruelty they were dealt. it means long nights, multiple coffees, and maybe a smoke from a long ago habit. (what i never said i was perfect, that's al remember?)_

_anyways, just because the prophet and witching hour like to splash my personal life on their glossy pages doesn't mean that i do very interesting things in my day-to-day life. in fact, all i've done in the last nine days is work, work, sleep, work, and grab lunch with rose and molly and roxy. very captivating i'm sure. rose tells me these things are supposed to have photographs that look like they came from an old polaroid camera. so here's a couple from the girls afternoon when roxy insisted on taking the central line to notting hill and trying a new indian restaurant that had just opened up and us girls stopped at portabello market along the way. rose obviously favors large sun hats and molly still can't take her eyes off of her (admittedly gorgeous) engagement ring (and no. silence that thought right now. you did not detect any sort of jealousy.)_

.&.

_24 september_

_i love england, i love the constant drizzle and i love big ben and the tube and friday evenings at the leaky caldron. i love being close to my family and working alongside my dad and even when my ugly mug makes it to the front of the society pages. i love tea in the mornings and my football is played with a black and white ball not something colloquial called a "pigskin". _

_sometimes though, i miss america. i miss the wide city streets and the protests that always seemed to be going on in dc. i miss being unknown and deemed "too young to be working so much, shouldn't you still be in school?" i miss cold beer and barbecues on the roof of our apartment building and everyone crowded around a large telly watching the basketball game. _

_but really, i miss nate. _

_we met the summer after my third year. nate's dad worked with the magical division of the american cia and transferred to the english branch after divorcing his wife, nate's mum. nate his entire summer holiday in london and since i was the same age as nate and a girl could only stay at home with her gormless brothers for so long, daddy had this grand idea that i play tour guide and show the yank around. we spent most of july and all of august taking the tube to various muggle and magical places. and talking, lots and lots of talking. it was nice, having a friend who was solely mine - not one of my brothers, not friends with both me and my cousins - and wasn't someone who wanted to befriend harry bloody potter's daughter. nate went back to america that first week of september and i took the train back to hogwarts. but we wrote to each other, letter after letter and when he came back the next summer, it was the best part of my entire year. _

_there's a running bet within the family on when we're going to get engaged. i think rose has next summer, when he moves here full time. i don't know what his plans are, of course, but i would never be opposed to it. can't think of anyone else who would put up with my barmy self, to be honest. _

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__hate it? love it? i am totally mad for writing this? sound off in a comment letting me know what you guys thought please!

next up on lily's blog: _i go flat hunting (for real, this time) and in which we find out what dominique is hiding. and why. and what do you mean i have to fix it?_


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